The gesture used to unlock mobile phones is currently the subject of a number of legal disputes between mobile phone giants.
The High Court in London has ruled that HTC did not infringe four Apple technologies, including the slide-to-unlock feature, which was an ?obvious? development to a Swedish handset released in 2004, according to the BBC.
HTC launched the lawsuits a year ago to invalidate European patents Apple had referred to in a German court case. Apple quickly countersued.
The four patents at stake were:
- Unlocking a device by performing a gesture on an image
- Using multilingual keyboards offering different alphabets on portable devices
- A system to determine whether a screen was pressed by a single or multiple digits
- An image bouncing back into the screen once it has reached its furthermost edge
The judge ruled that the first three patents are invalid and the fourth doesn?t apply to HTC phones.
He stated that HTC?s ?arc unlock? system would have infringed Apple?s patent had it not been for a Swedish phone, the Neonode N1, released in 2004.
The N1 had a padlock on its screen with the words ?right sweep to unlock?. The judge stated it is an ?obvious? development to offer visual feedback in the form of a ?slider?, and that Apple?s slider wasn?t new since it had already appeared in Microsoft?s CE system prior to Apple.
An HTC statement released after the judgement said: ?HTC is pleased with the ruling, which provides further confirmation that Apple?s claims against HTC are without merit. We remain disappointed that Apple continues to favour competition in the courtroom over competition in the marketplace.?
Apple declined to comment, and instead re-released a statement saying: ?We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.?
This in itself is quite humorous, considering Apple settled a patent dispute with Creative over Apple?s implementation of a music navigation system on their iPods for a $100 million licensing fee in 2006.
Interestingly though, a US court has previously ruled that the same patent is valid in a dispute that led to a ban being imposed on sales of the Google Nexus smartphone.
Andrew Alton, a solicitor at law firm Urquhart-Dykes and Lord ? who have previously worked for Apple ? told the BBC this might not be such a significant victory for HTC: ?National patent laws thematically are very similar, but can be applied very differently.
?Not only are the tests different but also the evidence that can be introduced in different courts varies. If the Neonode wasn?t released in the US it might not be able to be cited there.
?So the fact that Apple has lost this particular patent battle in the UK shouldn?t mean it should be seen to have lost the global war.?
A statement released by Peter Bell of Stevens & Bolton LLP, who have previously represented HTC, said: ?This judgment of the English High Court marks a considerable defeat for Apple in the smartphone patent wars.
?The judgment is likely to have significant ramifications across Europe. As well as suing HTC in the UK, Apple has also asserted all of these patents against Samsung in the UK and it has asserted the foreign equivalents of some of these patents against HTC, Samsung and Motorola in Germany and the Netherlands.?
What this is going to mean in the long run is anyone?s guess, but you can be certain that there will be many more legal battles between smartphone manufacturers in the future.
Original story:
BBC
TechRadar
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